


Look Me In The Eye

by cheshireArcher



Category: 15th Century CE RPF, Henry V - Shakespeare
Genre: AU where Henry meets his son but it's still sad, Angst, F/M, Impending Death, why can't I write something happy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-03-22 22:00:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13773450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheshireArcher/pseuds/cheshireArcher
Summary: It’s a terrible way to go, not at all a fitting passing for a king.Henry V, nearing death, receives some visitors. From the prompt "Look me in the eye and tell me you love me."





	Look Me In The Eye

**Author's Note:**

  * For [OldShrewsburyian](https://archiveofourown.org/users/OldShrewsburyian/gifts).



> For Oldshrewsburyian, a certified glutton for pain who wanted the prompt "Look me in the eye and tell me you love me" for Henry V and Catherine.

It’s a terrible way to go, not at all a fitting passing for a king, Catherine thinks, and definitely not for her husband. 

Henry is dying of dysentery. Catherine can’t do anything. The doctors can’t, and God seems to have decided not to also. It's going to be any day now.

Henry is sitting up, or sitting as much as he can, in bed, when Catherine is admitted to the room. Beside him is Gloucester, reading in a voice so quiet only Henry can hear. The King’s tired eyes light up when he sees his Queen, and her heart feels like it’s dropped to her stomach. It shouldn’t be like this, she keeps thinking. Not this, not what he’s waited two years for. 

“Here he is,” Catherine says, meaning the bundle in her arms. The newborn Prince Henry of England. And France, someday. 

“Come here,” Henry says, meaning both his wife and son. He reaches out an arm as much as he can. Gloucester stands. He kisses his big brother’s forehead and sets down the book to leave and give them some privacy. Catherine takes the now-empty seat next to the bed. 

“He’s beautiful, Henri,” Catherine says, unable to think of anything else. “He looks like you.”

“Poor thing,” Henry jokes, his voice faltering from exhaustion and the tears coming to his eyes. He’d looked forward to meeting his baby son. Of course the King needed to produce an heir, but-- to be a father-- he’d never admit it but that’s what he wanted so badly. “Can I hold him?”

Catherine nods, feeling like she isn’t actually there. He’s too weak to hold the baby on his own, so she helps him. It’s a painful and frustratingly poetic scene, like something from a manuscript illustrations of the stages of life. A dying man holding his infant child.

“He is lovely,” Henry agrees, looking down at the tiny, squished-up face. The baby opens his eyes, big and trusting and innocent. He can’t see much yet, and Henry and Catherine both hope, for just a moment, he won’t have to see the cruel world around him until he’s ready to take it on, but that’s impossible now. 

Catherine can’t bear to look at her elder Henry, she’s not sure exactly why. But then she feels his hand brush hers and she looks up finally.

“I love you,” he says. “I love you both.” She still remembers the first time he said that-- the first time anyone had said it to her, at least honestly. She hadn’t realized it was in earnest then, or that she would come to love this fierce king who hated himself, despite him invading her country to take it over when her father died. Originally a treaty, they had come to love each other and work together. 

“Oh, Henri...” her head bowed, she takes his hand and presses it to her forehead. “I love you.”

“Look me in the eye and tell me you love me,” Henry commands, gently. She does. His eyes are as gentle as a dove’s, as some have described them, even though they’re sunken from dehydration and show some of the pain he’s in. 

“I love you,” she says again, and her eyes don’t leave his.


End file.
